


Mistakes were Made

by ThymeAtlas



Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 05:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15623709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThymeAtlas/pseuds/ThymeAtlas
Summary: Helen pays Evelyn a visit, and they have a talk





	Mistakes were Made

**Author's Note:**

> there are references to cheating & evelyn is Not Nice about it

Helen stops in the hallway, three feet down from Evelyn's cell, just out of sight. She still doesn't exactly know what she's going to say or even why she thought it would be good to come. She remembers Evelyn saying, in the airplane, that they might have been good friends; remembered drinking with her, after the cocktail party, when they moved back to Evelyn's room and she saw blueprints and little gadgets and thought nothing of it, laughed with her, their thighs touching, had leaned forward, swaying slightly, eyelids falling, lips open, and then pulled back.

Remembered, further, her mohawk and motorcycle, a leather jacket with two interlocking Venus signs embroidered on the back, her girlfriend Emily sewing on the patch, holding her hand, kissing her, leading her to their bedroom, their apartment, how she looked while cooking, light softened by their curtains, how she was so accepting of Helen's powers, and, even more so, impressed and proud and supportive. How she had told Evelyn this after the near-kiss, after the call with Bob where she could tell he was jealous that she was appreciated for once, that he wasn't in the limelight. And then Evelyn had kissed her, and Helen had kissed back.

Had crawled into her lap, had straddled her, one hand in her hair and the other on her back and it was exactly what she had wanted since Evelyn had casually mentioned an ex-girlfriend, was out in a way that Helen was terrified to be, was unapologetic-- and then Evelyn reached for her mask.

Helen pulled back, panting, and then fled. They hadn't talked about it since. Evelyn hadn't even brought it up in her little villain monologue: you trusted me because i made you a bike? Because my brother knew the words to your theme song? (Because we kissed?)

Helen thinks she might be here to thank her for that. Might be here to tell her to continue keeping quiet about it. Might be here to kiss her again, might be here to be sure she doesn't want to.

Might be here because of the way Evelyn looked into her eyes before kicking her in the face, pleading almost, as if to say don't catch me. Helen keeps walking.

Evelyn is sitting on her cot, crosslegged. Someone gave her a newspaper and she's tearing strips off of it, making paper airplanes. Helen can see that a few have already made their way through the cell bars, are piling up across the hall. Evelyn hasn't looked up yet, but Helen knows she's heard her-- Evelyn tears through the front page picture of Elastigirl's face like she had been saving it until this moment.

"Good to see you, too," says Helen, and Evelyn smirks.

"Did you know," she says, "that my mom taught me to make paper planes? She knew hundreds of different ways to fold them."

"I didn't know there were hundreds of ways to make paper airplanes."

"Well, maybe I'm exaggerating. But I haven't used the same one twice so far today." She throws the newest one through the bars and Helen catches it, looks at the right half of her face.

"I didn't think I'd ever be in the papers again," she says. "Three someones, actually"

Evelyn regards the left half of the photo. "I like you better with the mask, I think. Like this you just look like someone's mom."

"I am someone's mom," says Helen.

Evelyn scoffs, tears, starts folding again. "Right," she says. "Meddling kids, etcetera. It's just, with the way you were flirting with me--"

"Stop," says Helen,

"-- I didn't think it was that serious between you and Incredible."

"We had a fight, and," she stops. "It doesn't matter. I was wrong."

"And you blame me for having no morals." She throws the airplane through the bars and Helen catches it, holds it up.

"And you call Winston a child?"

Evelyn shrugs. "At least I have a realistic worldview. Am I wrong that people become weak by relying on others?"

"Of course you are," says Helen. "People are stronger when they work together. Even without supers, civilians rely on the police for protection."

Finally, Evelyn stands, steps closer. "So you're playing the idealist full-time now."

"And you're playing the cynic."

"Someone has to." 

She's reached the bars, but Helen doesn't step back. Remembers the plane, no oxygen, delirious, and just wanting to be close to her; the betrayal she felt in that cold cell, wondering how Evelyn could be so smart and still blame her father's death on supers instead of his own faith in them; the way she thought, just after leaving Evelyn's room, that maybe she should have let her see her face after all; her brief fantasy of running off with her that she dismissed immediately; her ever-present guilt, her love for her family. She still doesn't move.

"I did want to be with you," says Evelyn, and reaches her hand through the bars to touch Helen's cheek. 

Helen turns away. "Don't."

Evelyn withdraws slightly; Helen almost thinks she looks hurt.

"What right do you have to think you could be with me? You used me, and my husband and my friends. You tried to kill us and force us back underground! Why would I ever trust you again?"

Evelyn just stands there. Helen thinks, this is what I came here to do.

"You should have let me fall," says Evelyn.

"Just because I hate you doesn't mean I'd let you die."

"Do you really hate me?"

"Did you really mean it?" Helen asks instead of answering. "When you said I was better than Bob?"

"Objectively, you're a better superhero," says Evelyn. She seems perfectly composed now, no hurt, no shock, no lingering thoughts of suicide. "I can hate what you do but respect that you do it well."

"I can't," says Helen, and begins walking away.

"I'm just going to get house arrest," Evelyn calls after her. "You'll know where to find me."

Helen doesn't turn around. She cries in the car on the drive home.


End file.
